Did God Create Satan ?
I’d like us to examine the scriptures today in an effort to answer the question.. Did God create satan? I think I can safely say that the majority of people believe that indeed God did create satan. However, instead of being created as “satan”, most people would say that satan was originally created as an angel of heaven, and then later became what we call “Satan”.
I believe that the three key passages that people rely upon to formulate and support that belief, are Ezekiel 28, verses 13 thru 15, Isaiah 14, verse 12, and Revelation 12, verses 7 thru 9.
First let’s read the words of Ezekiel 28:13-15; “You were in Eden, the garden of God. Every kind of precious stone adorned you: ruby, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and emerald. Your mountings and settings were crafted in gold, prepared on the day of your creation. You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for I had ordained you. You were on the holy mountain of God; you walked among the fiery stones. From the day you were created you were blameless in your ways, until wickedness was found in you.”
That is no doubt the premier verse that people use to support the idea of Satan being originally created as an angel of God, but then falling from that position, and becoming what is currently referred to as “Satan”. That passage even contains the idea of being created, ie.. “From the day you were created..”
But let’s also consider the words of Revelation 12:7-9; “Then a war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But the dragon was not strong enough, and no longer was any place found in heaven for him and his angels. And the great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.”
And lastly, here are the words of Isaiah 14:12; “How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the ground, O destroyer of nations.” It’s interesting to note that some English versions, including the KJV, use the word “lucifer” in place of the words “morning star”. However, the word “lucifer” is a Latin word, and really has no place in an English translation. The word “lucifer” means.. “light bearer”, or “light bringer”, and so you can see the similarity between that and “morning star” which of course “brings light”.
But based on those three scriptures, we can see how the belief developed, that satan was originally created as an angel, who was highly exalted by God (Ezek 28:13-15) but who then for some reason “waged war in heaven” and was consequently cast out of heaven (Rev 12:7-9) and who was then you might say, “lamented”, as seen from Isaiah 14;12.
But what I’d like to do here, is examine these verses within the context which they are a part of, and we’ll try to determine whether they actually teach what people think they teach. Specifically, do they teach that God created a highly exalted angelic being, who eventually rebelled, and was cast out of heaven and thrown down to earth? And when we do examine these verse within the proper context, I think we’ll find our exactly what these verses are talking about.
So then let’s begin with our “premier” passage, Ezekiel 28:13-15. Exactly WHAT is this passage talking about, and exactly WHO is this passage talking about?
To answer those questions, we’ll go back to the beginning of the chapter, because that’s where the context begins. Here’s what it says in Ezekiel 28, verses 1 & 2.. “And the word of the LORD came to me, saying; Son of man, (that’s Ezekiel) Say the ruler of Tyre, (some versions say the Prince of Tyre. I think some may say, the king of Tyre. But since we’re not sure exactly what his title was, we’ll just stick with “the ruler of Tyre”) So, “Son of man, say to the ruler of Tyre, that this is what the Lord GOD says: Your heart is proud, and you have said, ‘I am a god; I sit in the seat of gods, in the heart of the sea.’ Yet you are a man, and not a god, though you have regarded your heart as that of a god.”
Let me say something about the phrase, “in the heart of the sea”. The proud ruler said to himself, “I am a god; I sit in the seat of gods, in the heart of the sea.” The city of Tyre sits on the east coast of the Mediterranean Sea, in what was then Phoenicia. Today it’s Turkey. But let me read to you what history says about the city of Tyre.. “In the Bible, Tyre is depicted as a prosperous Phoenician port city on the Mediterranean coast. The city was known for its fortifications and maritime prowess, and is described as a major power and a center of commerce.”
And so is it any wonder why that proud ruler would think of himself as “sitting in the seat of gods, in the heart of the sea”?
But back to the words of Ezekiel. What’s taking place here? Well, obviously Ezekiel is prophesying according to the word which God has revealed to him. And who is Ezekiel prophesying about? Well, verse 2 says.. “Tell the ruler of Tyre, that this is what the Lord GOD says” Ezekiel is obviously prophesying about the ruler of Tyre, and God is declaring condemnation upon him.
You know, in Ezekiel chapter 24, God declares condemnation upon the king of Babylon. And in chapter 25 God declares condemnation upon the Ammonites. In chapters 26 & 27, God condemns the city of Tyre. And now in chapter 28, God directly condemns the RULER of Tyre. And later on in the chapter, in verses 20 thru 26 of chapter 28, God will condemn the neighboring city of Sidon.
Now, let me stop here for a minute and ask you a question. Have you seen anything so far, that would make you think that this prophecy, has anything to do with satan? Is the word “satan used”? No. Is there any illusion at all to the idea of satan? No. There’s a lot said about the pride and arrogance of the ruler of Tyre. But just because the ruler of Tyre thought of himself as “a god” does that somehow mean that the idea of satan is involved here? I can’t see why it would give anyone that impression. But maybe you’ll see some connection as we go thru the rest of the passage, we’ll see.
But once again, Ezekiel chapter 28 is introduced with a condemnation of the ruler of the city of Tyre. And the reason for this condemnation, is stated in verse 2.. “Your heart is proud, and you have said, ‘I am a god; I sit in the seat of gods, in the heart of the sea.’ Yet you are a man and not a god, though you have regarded your heart as that of a god.” And God goes on to detail the sinfulness of the ruler of Tyre, and of his eventual downfall, through verse 10.
And now we’re going to continue with more of the passage. Beginning with verse 11, you could say that the Lord “doubles down” on His condemnation of this earthly ruler whose pride was such that he thought of himself as a “god”. Listen to verses 11 & 12.. “Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying; Son of man, take up a lament for the king of Tyre, and tell him that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.”
Now, was the ruler of Tyre literally “the seal of perfection”? Was the ruler of Tyre literally “full of wisdom and perfect in beauty”? Of course not. Of course he wasn’t literally a “seal of perfection” nor was he literally “perfect in beauty” nor was he literally as “full of wisdom” as he imagined. But this is how the ruler THOUGHT of himself! When God said, “you are the seal of perfection”, God wasn’t stating that in reality the ruler was literally “the seal of perfection”. But rather, God was stating what the ruler THOUGHT that he was, in his own mind. God knows the hearts of all of us. And He knew the heart of this proud ruler of Tyre. In verse 2, God said that the ruler thought he was a god! In verse 3 God said that the ruler thought he was “wiser than Daniel” and that “no secret is hidden from him”! And in verse 6, God said.. “you regard your heart as the heart of a god” What a fool! I think we can safely say that the ruler or Tyre was a bit our of touch with reality!
Now let’s go to verses 13 thru 15. First verse 13. God’s word says.. “You were in Eden, the garden of God.” Ah ha! someone says, now God is talking about satan! But wait a minute.. Didn’t God just get done saying AGAIN, that this was about the ruler of Tyre? We’re only in verse 13 here, and verse 12 has just said.. “Take up a lament for the king of Tyre.” So God is definitely still talking about the ruler of Tyre.
Every kind of precious stone adorned you: ruby, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and emerald. Your mountings and settings were crafted in gold, prepared on the day of your creation.” Was the ruler of Tyre literally in Eden, the garden of God? Of course not. The ruler of Tyre
